


Long Have I Waited for You

by Purple_ducky00



Series: AU-gust prompts [24]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Arranged Marriage, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Child Abuse, Flashbacks, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Slash, Torture, howard stark is a terrible person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-24
Updated: 2020-08-24
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:54:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26077537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Purple_ducky00/pseuds/Purple_ducky00
Summary: Howard agrees that if he has a son, he would give Bucky said son's hand in marriage. Now, 80 years later, will Bucky hold up his end of the deal?
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark
Series: AU-gust prompts [24]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1859422
Comments: 7
Kudos: 159
Collections: Bucky Barnes Bingo 2020





	Long Have I Waited for You

**Author's Note:**

> This is in compliant with square Y4: Cold of the Bucky Barnes Bingo
> 
> Many thanks to [my darling J](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fighting_for_Creativity) for the help for this one!

“That is not the fucking way to do it!” Bucky screams. “Are you a genius or an idiot, Stark?”

Howard Stark yells back at him. Steve just wants to be far away from here. Bucky and Howard always clash, and they always seem to be in an argument. And it’s always up to Steve to stop it. Lucky him. “Come on guys. It’s just… not that big of a deal!”

“Not that big of a deal, Stevie? Do you know what he’s trying to do? Tell me, Stark, did you have a mother? Or sisters? Don’t you know how to treat a lady?”

“I’ve treated plenty of women, thank you very much!” Howard shoots back. “Never heard a single complaint. But if I’m wrong, I’d hate to see how you treat women. Probably is what makes them think they can take over everything now. Hell, if I had a daughter, you’d be the last person I’d allow to marry her.”

Bucky shoots back. “No problem. But… I claim the right to marry your son, you asshole!”

Howard opens his mouth to reply, then realizes what Bucky said. Steve gasps. _He_ knew about Bucky, but it’s a hush-hush subject. No one talks about it. Bucky could face some serious consequences if word got out. Steve holds his breath, seeing how Howard will respond. Howard smirks. “Deal. If we both live through this, and I happen to get married and have a son, you can marry him.”

“Deal.” Bucky shakes his hand. Steve sags in relief.

After Howard retires for the night, Bucky shakes his head and scoffs. “Th’ idiot. What’s he gonna do, just marry my old ass off to his teenage son? Not gonna happen.”

“Leave it, Buck. Just be happy that he didn’t decide to tell the whole camp about you.” Steve shoves him. “That was sure a foolhardy thing to say, jerk.”

“Shaddup punk. I know, but he just gets me so heated sometimes.” Bucky rubs the back of his neck.

Steve stands. “Whatever, Buck. I’m gonna go to bed now. We got an early day tomorrow.”

++++++  
Bucky had scoffed at Howard’s deal, but he can’t get the thought out of his head. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be able to marry whomever you love with no backlash? That would be a perfect world, and Bucky knows this world is far from perfect.

He pushes the thoughts to the back of his mind, but every once in a while, they creep back up. He sometimes wonders what Howard’s son would look like. He often wished that Howard were much older than he. Bucky would never actually marry a kid that’s only twenty when he’s sixty-five. It’s not right, but somehow is more acceptable than a man marrying a man.

His last thought as he fell down the ravine was _well, I guess Howard can be glad I won’t marry his son._

++++++

Tony Stark does not have a happy childhood. His mother loves him, but she travels far too often to be close to him. His father is either too busy or too drunk to deal with him. When Howard does give him the time of day, it’s to tell him how worthless and stupid he is.

“Too bad Barnes died in the war,” Howard would often say, “had he lived, I’d be ok with holding up my end of the bargain. Little piece of shit, you never did anything for me. You’d be a great househusband or whatever Barnes would do for you.”

Once Tony asked what he was talking about. It earned him a slap across the face and a growled reply. “He claimed the right to marry my son. I agreed because I never thought I’d have a child. Children are worthless, and I don’t know why we didn’t give you up for adoption immediately.”

He had heard this spiel many times over and had become numb to the insults. Therefore, he walked away with a silver lining that someone did, in fact, once want him. Tony went to bed happy that night, despite his stinging face.

++++++++

Tony is sixteen when he catches a man lurking around their house. Dressed in bondage-type gear, wearing a mask over the lower half of his face, and carrying many weapons, Tony isn’t sure what he is, except that he’s up to no good. At least, Tony’s almost positive that he saw this. Being hopped up on some kind of drug probably didn’t help his case.

In retrospect, Tony knows he was stupid, but he walks up to the man and says, “Can I help you?”

The man’s grey eyes widen. He quickly creates a diversion and disappears quickly. Tony blinks, wondering if this was all in his head. When he tells Jarvis, the man just pats his head and tells him they will better the security. Tony gets the feeling that the older man doesn’t believe him. He’s not quite sure he believes himself either. So, he shrugs and pushes the event to the back of his brain.

++++++

Stark is not at the house. The only beings there are the staff and Stark’s son. _Son._ Winter thinks. _Howard Stark’s son…_ A memory flashes. _“I’ve treated plenty of women, thank you very much!” Howard shoots back. “Never heard a single complaint. But if I’m wrong, I’d hate to see how you treat women. Probably is what makes them think they can take over everything now. Hell, if I had a daughter, you’d be the last person I’d allow to marry her.” Bucky shoots back. “No problem. But… I claim the right to marry your son, you asshole!” Howard opens his mouth to reply, then realizes what Bucky said. Steve gasps. He smirks. “Deal. If we both live through this, and I happen to get married and have a son, you can marry him.”_ Howard’s son. His groom. They should be married. Winter knows he must leave HYDRA.

The boy steps out of the house, clearly under the influence. Stumbling over towards Winter’s direction, he slurs, “Caaan I hellllllllll’ you?”

Realizing that the boy sees him, Winter throws a flash grenade to the left. The boy looks over, and Winter hides. No point in revealing himself now. He reports back to his handler, telling him that Howard Stark was not home. Winter begins making plans to defect then and there.

He begins stashing a few supplies here and there, times when he wouldn’t be missed. He follows all orders without fail, not allowing any room for deviance. In about ten months, he believes he is ready to leave. He chooses to leave late one night. Grabbing his supplies, he silently sneaks through the base, avoiding all agents. Winter is almost free when _zzzt_ electricity crackles against his back. An agent hits him with a taser. Winter flails and falls, blacking out. He wakes in the chair.

“Kept him out of conditioning too long.” His head handler shakes his head, hand on his chin.

There’s another man there today – he’s tall and bald with a large beard. He crosses his arms and laughs. “He’s pretty stupid if he thinks he can just leave. Make sure he’s properly conditioned and wiped. I have a job for him fairly soon. This will suit you as well, Alex.”

Alex, his head handler, nods. “Of course. I’d be happy to hear it. Wipe him several times, just in case. We may need to revert to original conditioning.”  
  


NO! Winter wants to yell. He remembers original conditioning. He was in pain for too long. He can’t take it again. He can’t… He won’t… A technician gives him the bite guard. He opens his mouth automatically. Winter’s chair tilts back, and the headset comes down over his skull. With the motion of his handler’s hand, a technician flips the switch and the pain starts. Winter knows he shouldn’t, but he screams. He screams over and over again, but they won’t stop. They won’t stop until he forgets. Until he forgets everything except his training. Why can’t he just forget?

Winter knows pain. Pain is his only friend. No one else is there with him nearly as much as pain. Pain is with him every day now. It will be there until he gives up. Two months of original conditioning, and he gives up. He can’t take any more. Winter knows that does not make him a perfect Asset, but he can take no more. Now, he doesn’t know why they gave him this pain, and he doesn’t want to. All it will do is bring him more. Handler is happy. He freezes Winter quickly, then thaws him quickly. As Winter recovers, a lesser handler says his mission words and tells him where to go.

They give him a pistol and a motorcycle. “Make it look like an accident and steal the contents of the trunk,” they say. “Bring back all evidence.”

Winter tails the car, causes it to crash. The face of the man is strangely familiar, and he calls him “Sergeant Barnes”. Winter kills him and the woman. He pulls the bags out of the trunk and notices a roadside camera. He shoots the glass and steals the tape. Head Handler is very happy with the results. He rewards Winter with an easy freezing. To Winter, this is paradise.

He doesn’t remember why he tried to leave, but he remembers the pain. Winter does not deviate from his handlers’ instructions again… until 2014. He knows the man. Even though the head handler wiped him, he knows the man on the bridge. The man on the bridge will not fight him. It’s… St… Stevie. Stevie calls him Bucky… Is he Bucky? Winter doesn’t know.

As the hellicarriers go down, Winter pulls Stevie out of the water. He needs to find out about himself before he can find Stevie again. He needs to find out who he is.

+++++

Tony is now thirty-eight when Steve comes home from the hospital. “Bucky… he’s alive.” He gasps to Tony.

 _Bucky? Alive?_ Tony thinks. _I wonder…_ No, he stops the thought right there. “How is he still alive?”

“HYDRA had him. They must have given him a knock-off serum because he’s still alive today. I can imagine what he went through. I _know_ Bucky would never join HYDRA willingly. When I first met him, he didn’t know who I was. He seemed genuinely confused. Nat gave me the file on him, and I don’t even want to read it. I’ll probably throw up. But he saved me from the helicarrier and disappeared.”

Tony spins around to a screen. “I can have J scan all cameras and monitors everywhere. We can find him in no time.”

“Before you decide to help me, there’s something I have to tell you first.” Steve looks down at his hands. “Your parents’ death wasn’t an accident.”

Tony sinks to a chair. “And it was Barnes?”

“All points seem to that, but I don’t know for sure.” Steve nods unhappily.

Tony tries to wrap the whole thing around his head. “You’re going to have to give me time to process.” He tells Steve. “I’m sorry, but I spent the last however many years – since I was seventeen – that Dad was drunk and just spun out. Give me some time, and then I’ll help you.”

_Dad’s probably laughing in his grave right now._ Tony thinks ruefully. _I wouldn’t put it past him to somehow know that Barnes would kill him. Now, if I want to complete the deal, I’ll have to marry my parents’ murderer._ It’s really just his luck.

++++++

Winter, no Bucky, spends time figuring out his life. He knows any HYDRA agent can just say those words, and he’ll be under conditioning again. Bucky knows he needs to find a place to go for safety, but it’s a Stark Tower.

Stark Tower, where Stevie is, where his arranged husband is. Where he has to face all of his memories at once. Figuring his pain is worse than the alternative, Bucky makes his way to Stark Tower. He finds a way in, but he is met with an Iron Man suit stopping him from going any further.

“Stop right there.” The modulated voice says.

Bucky’s eyes grow wide. “Husband…” He blurts without thinking.

“Oh, thank fuck, you remember.” The voice in the suit says. “Dear old dad will be rolling over in his grave right now. Welcome to my humble abode.”

“I need help.” Bucky says.

“Come on in. We can figure it out.” Tony Stark stops out of his suit. Bucky can admire his arranged husband’s hindquarters. Howard was a dick, but his son shows potential in more ways than one. Maybe they can make that arrangement work after all.


End file.
